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Movies Forum Index » Silent Movies Forum » OT: Crummy Versions of Foreign Films
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| Jessica |
 Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:50 pm |
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rward@jaguar1.usouthal.edu (Richard Ward) wrote in message news:<2d6c5a70.0403221146.79c53a5c@posting.google.com>...
Quote: This is as much of a rant as it is a question, but why do the
"official" US video releases of foreign films often look so bad? I am
watching Kino's release of "The Little Theater of Jean Renoir" right
now and it's got lines running through much of it and scratched-in
reel change cuemarks that suggest that this is from a well-run 16mm
syndication print. Jacques Tati's "Jour De Fete" was restored to full
color in the mid-1990s, yet it only seems available on video in the US
now in black and white. One would think that at this point in time we
could get better material.
Richard Ward
Well the only defense I can offer is that Kino INHERITED this film
from another company and had no control over any of the material
I believe Criterion is getting a number of Renoir titles out on DVD
and it is possible this may be one of them. Problem with
Jour de Fete is simpler, Miramax owns it and does not give
a rats ass and like some other different but VERY important
films they own like the BFI 100 years of Cinema series
and THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES it may never see the light
of day on DVD.
Frankly the advent of DVD should make better quality material
available on MAJOR titles but not as much on smaller ones
And in a SHAMELESS plug, the Pagnol boxed set comes out on
6/15 and Two wonderful never released on DVD foreign titles in
May , CIRCLE OF DECEIT ( one of my favorites so please buy it
as I made Kino pick it up) and LIFE AND NOTHING BUT
Jessica |
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| Ulrich Ruedel |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:32 am |
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"Richard Ward" <rward@jaguar1.usouthal.edu> wrote
Quote: Jacques Tati's "Jour De Fete" was restored to full
color in the mid-1990s, yet it only seems available on video in the US
now in black and white.
Which of course is the latest version authorized by Tati himself (and many
find, the funnier one as well), unlike the reassembled color version.
Actually, when you say b/w, you are probably referring to the partially
colorized version with the new framing story (included as side 2 of the
back-in-print French DVD). The only instance when I ever saw the original
release all-b/w variant (without the painter's narration) in any format was
decades ago on TV. Needless to say, a nice Criterion edition of all three
variants would be a treat.
Uli |
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| Max Nineteennineteen |
| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 12:32 am |
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At the other end, there's the ongoing series of reissues from Rialto,
which seem to wind up on Criterion DVDs most of the time. Really
wonderful to have movies like Pepe le Moko and I Vitelloni play
theatrically in prints you could eat off of, and then come to DVD in
comparable shape.
Incidentally, I just saw that one of my all-time-faves is coming out
on DVD shortly-- Bresson's A Man Escapes, an existential/religious
escape thriller (based on a true story from WWII) which is truly one
of the greatest films ever made. |
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